ERIC_NO: ED205996 TITLE: Using the Want Ads. A Janus Survival Guide.

AUTHOR: Jew, Wing; Tandy, Carol PUBLICATION_DATE: 1977 ABSTRACT: Originally intended for students with reading problems, this booklet may also be helpful to anyone who wants to make use of newspaper want ads. The eight teaching units discuss the following topics: (1) purposes for want ads, (2) finding want ads, (3) letting the alphabet help in reading want ads, (4) looking for a job, (5) looking for an apartment, (6) looking for a car or bicycle, (7) writing want ads, and (8) using the local newspaper. The final section of the booklet contains a guide to the phonetic respellings of abbreviations commonly used in want ads. A brief teacher's manual accompanies the booklet. ERIC_NO: ED309484 TITLE: Gender Stereotypes in Advertising: A Critical Review. AUTHOR: Langmeyer, Lynn PUBLICATION_DATE: 1989 ABSTRACT: Television and television advertising, because of their pervasiveness and intrusiveness, have been identified by many as potent, formative, and usually negative influences within our culture. Print media, including magazine advertising, although perhaps less potent, are perceived as equally important. The effects of gender portrayals on audiences are a major concern to advertising and marketing researchers because there is an assumption that negative reactions to portrayals are related to negative consumption attitudes and behavior. A review of the literature shows that researchers, however, have been very slow to tackle the question of effects and consequences, and research objectives have centered on the identification and examination of role

portrayals. Gender role research tends to be nose-counting and when it is not, results are contradictory and generally confined to narrow considerations. Despite the definitional, procedural, analytical, and conceptual problems associated with this research, the presence of advertising stereotypes can be clearly demonstrated. It is time to move on to the question of "effects," regardless of the difficulties likely to be encountered. ERIC_NO: EJ378819 TITLE: Explanation of Ambiguous Advertisements: A Developmental Study with Children and Adolescents. AUTHOR: Nippold, Marilyn A.; And Others PUBLICATION_DATE: 1988 JOURNAL_CITATION: Journal of Speech and Hearing Research; v31 n3 p466-74 Sep 1988 ABSTRACT: Forty students aged 9-18 were asked to explain the meanings of lexically ambiguous advertisements from magazines, newspapers, and brochures. Older subjects explained the meanings correctly more frequently than younger subjects. The psychological meanings of the ads were found to be more difficult to explain than the physical meanings.

ERIC_NO: EJ567501 TITLE: Translation Assessment: Notes on the Interlingual Transfer of an Advertising Text. AUTHOR: Horton, David PUBLICATION_DATE: 1998 JOURNAL_CITATION: IRAL; v36 n2 p95-119 May 1998

ABSTRACT: Attempts to measure translation quality raise important questions about the nature of textual transfer, the relationship between source- and target-language texts, and translation functions. Examination of a typical advertising text, translated from English to German, shows the degree of freedom with which texts are manipulated in professional practice and demonstrates difficulties that this presents for quality assessment.

ERIC_NO: ED171249 TITLE: A Two-Phase Survey of the Impact of Radio and Television Public Service Announcements. Final Report. PUBLICATION_DATE: 1979 ABSTRACT: This evaluation was designed to assess the effectiveness of an information campaign conducted in seven selected areas of the country to promote public awareness and use of services provided by the National Library Service for the Blind and Handicapped (NLS) for individuals with reading difficulties. The principal campaign medium consisted of television and radio public service announcements (PSAs) that were aired on a voluntary basis by local broadcasters. The PSAs were designed to tell the public about who is eligible, what materials are available, who sponsors the program, and that the services are free of charge. Public awareness of these announcements was assessed by conducting telephone surveys of adults in the areas where the PSAs were distributed. A measure of changes in awareness and knowledge was obtained by conducting two survey waves--a premeasure before any messages had been aired and a postmeasure that took place as the messages were continuing. Survey results showed that between 8 and 19 percent of the respondents saw the television PSAs, while only one to

3 percent of the respondents indicated awareness of the radio announcements. A comparison of the number of premeasure respondents who knew of the NLS programs (31 percent) with the number of postmeasure respondents indicating such knowledge shows an increase in awareness during the time of the study. (RAO)

ERIC_NO: ED157127 TITLE: The Impact of Political Television Commercials. AUTHOR: Kaid, Lynda Lee PUBLICATION_DATE: 1975 ABSTRACT: For decades research on mass media in political campaigns has yielded little evidence of direct, significant effects. Most survey research on elections found adequate explanations for voting decisions while excluding the impact of mass media. Although the increasing use of expensive television advertising campaigns is evidence of the confidence of candidates and their advisors, researchers have remained unconvinced, although in recent years they have begun to examine political television commercials more closely. The number of surveys has remained small, however, and fraught with methodological difficulties. Recent topics of research include: levels of voter exposure; extent of selective exposure; voter recall of information; selective perception and retention of information; "image" versus "issue" spots; the effect of length; direct impact on voting decisions; and the functions that such spots perform for voters. Recommendations for future research include the following: make further efforts to isolate the impact of particular spots; use more realistic viewing situations; measure the cumulative impact of several different spots over time; study the

interaction of spots with other information sources; and study the uses voters make of the information derived from spots.

ERIC_NO: ED050902
TITLE: A Comparison of the Reading Abilities of a Junior College Population and the Readability Levels of their Texts. AUTHOR: Hagstrom, Jon M. PUBLICATION_DATE: 1971 ABSTRACT: The differences between the reading abilities of 359 community-college students in selected classes and the readability difficulty of the texts used in those classes were examined. The Diagnostic Reading Test, Form A was administered to the subjects, and results showed that 35.9 percent of the population read at or above grade level 13; 33.5 percent read at grade levels 10, 11, or 12; 19.1 percent read at junior-high level; and 11.4 percent read below grade level 7. Thus, almost two-thirds of the subjects were reading below grade level. The texts used in the 16 classes were analyzed according to the Dale-Chall formula, and 14 of the 29 texts were more than one grade level above the reading ability of the students who used them. Five of the texts were rated at grade level 16, or graduate level, and the classes in which they were used had average reading ability rated from grade levels 10.9 to 12.2. It was recommended that teachers give more attention to the readability levels of the texts they select and that publishers assist this effort by advertising the readability levels of specific texts and other materials.

ERIC_NO: ED214108
TITLE: Abbreviations: Their Effects on Comprehension of Classified Advertisements. AUTHOR: Sokol, Kirstin R. PUBLICATION_DATE: 1981 ABSTRACT: Two experimental designs were used to test the hypothesis that abbreviations in classified advertisements decrease the reader's comprehension of such ads. In the first experimental design, 73 high school students read four ads (for employment, used cars, apartments for rent, and articles for sale) either with abbreviations or with all abbreviations eliminated. Both forms of ads were followed by comprehension questions. The 93 high school students participating in the second experimental design read the ads both with and without the abbreviations but in different orders of presentation and sometimes with a lapse of one week between readings. The findings were the same in both of the experimental designs. Regardless of test conditions, order of presentation, and time lapse between completion of both forms of experiment, the mean correct scores of the subjects were significantly lower on the form with abbreviations than on the form without abbreviations. A grade-by-grade analysis of the data showed that the differences between scores on the two forms occurred in all grades, although the differences were not significant in the twelfth grade sample. The analysis by grade also showed a trend of decreasing differences between the two forms as educational level increased. ERIC_NO: EJ641271 TITLE: Verso la comprensione: l'applicazione di un modello (Towards Comprehension: The Application of a Model). AUTHOR: Brusco, Simona

PUBLICATION_DATE: 2001 JOURNAL_CITATION: Italica; v78 n4 p540-60 p79-99 Win 2001 ABSTRACT: Argues comprehension is a complex, non-linear process, conditioned by multiple individual and contextual factors. Outlines DeMauro's models of comprehension, presents an integrated model that combines the interlacing and the circular models, uses the integrated model to analyze a series of interviews based on viewing of a magazine advertisement. Offers a graphical representation of the different factors at play.

ERIC_NO: ED386911 TITLE: The Effect on Listening Comprehension of Using Television Commercials in a Chinese-as-a-Second-Language Class. AUTHOR: Lee, Frances Y. PUBLICATION_DATE: 1994 ABSTRACT: This study measured the difference of the effect on students' learning of Chinese as a second language with the use of Chinese television commercials with both audio and video and Chinese commercials with audio only. Subjects were students (n=201) at Brigham Young University (Utah). Approximately 60 hours of commercial television videos, most in Mandarin Chinese, were recorded from Taiwan television. A pilot test of 5 commercials was conducted. Ten students were given pretests and posttests for each of the video and audio lessons during a 12-lesson course. There was a significant difference in student comprehension between video and audio sessions. Results of a statistical analysis suggest that although both methods produce gains, the use of video is shown be more effective in developing student comprehension than the use of audio alone. The audio-only approach

did not offer as many cues to meaning and students were dependent on the instructor to explain things not seen. It is suggested that the potential impacts of teacher bias and training and test design be investigated in more detail as well as the potential impact of television commercial impact versus television programming impact.

ERIC_NO: ED278367 TITLE: Consumer Information in the Electronic Media: Neutral Information, Advertising, Selling. Working Paper No. 4. AUTHOR: Sepstrup, Preben; Olander, Folke PUBLICATION_DATE: 1986 ABSTRACT: This paper presents a self-contained summary in English of the results of a research project conducted for the Nordic Council of Ministers to define problems, advantages, and disadvantages of the electronic dissemination of information for consumers, and to determine whether consumer organizations should adapt their information activities and consumer policies to suit developments in information technology. The Introduction and Chapter 1 provide background information on the project, and Chapters 2 through 6 contain detailed documentation of electronic data media--teletext, cabletext, and videotex--and other means of accessing databases, together with forecasts of future developments; the use of electronic and visual media in neutral consumer information in the United Kingdom, the United States, West Germany, and the Nordic countries; and the internal use of electronic data media by consumer organizations. The material presented is based on a comprehensive literature review and personal interviews with individuals from the above countries. Chapter 7 uses consumer behavior and communication theories to derive a series of general consumer requirements to be

applied to information and advertising, and Chapter 8 presents a proposal for a Nordic consumer policy of consumer information in the electronic media. A list of persons interviewed is included, as well as a comprehensive reference list which includes works in English, Danish, French, German, Norwegian, and Swedish.

ERIC_NO: ED120758 TITLE: Maturational and Social Factors in Children's Understanding of TV Commercials. AUTHOR: Robertson, Thomas S.; Rossiter, John R. PUBLICATION_DATE: 1975 ABSTRACT: The findings of this study indicated that children's capacity to comprehend television advertising is primarily a developmental phenomenon, although social and experiential factors may have a moderate positive and a minor negative influence, respectively. Research subjects were 289 elementary school boys of first, third, and fifth grade levels, equally divided among the three groups. Canonical correlation analysis was utilized in a broad application of Piaget's theory to assess the relative contribution of developmental, social and experiential factors to children's comprehension of television advertising. Comprehension was operationally defined as cognitive understanding of the general structure and intent of commercials and demonstration of a selective attitudinal response toward them.

ERIC_NO: ED456474 TITLE: Educators and Practitioners Look at the Advertising Curriculum. AUTHOR: Fletcher, Alan D.

PUBLICATION_DATE: 2001 ABSTRACT: A 1989 comprehensive report addressed the then-current status of curricula in all of the mainstream components of most mass communication programs: journalism, advertising, broadcasting, magazines, public relations, and visual communication. Recently, a study replicated the advertising portion of the original report, using a questionnaire based largely on the original and employing subsamples of respondents that match or are similar to the original subsamples. In the original study, respondents were asked to rate the importance of general areas of study in a liberal arts program and also to rate the importance of specialized areas of study usually found in advertising curricula, such as copy and layout and media planning. Two groups constituted the sample: educator members of the Advertising Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) and presidents and education chairs of local professional advertising associations. Results in 1989 demonstrated very strong agreement between educators and practitioners in the relative importance of general areas of study as well as specific advertising and advertising-related courses. And as in the earlier study, in the current study it appears that professors and practitioners of advertising are largely in agreement about the relative importance of various general areas of study. Like the earlier study, this study showed no dramatic differences between educator and practitioner views of what is important in the typical advertising curriculum. The conclusion of the original curriculum study appears to be appropriate for this study--that advertising education "is attuned to the needs of the marketplace."

ERIC_NO: ED314305 TITLE: Report on Self-Regulation by the Broadcasting and Advertising Industries for the Elimination of Sex-Role Stereotyping in the Broadcast Media. PUBLICATION_DATE: 1986 ABSTRACT: The Task Force on Sex-Role Stereotyping was established in 1979 by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Comprised of members of the broadcasting industry, the task force included the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), the advertising industry, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), public members, and the CRTC. The task force published a report in 1982 that set out a wide-ranging program, based on industry self-regulation with public accountability, to improve the portrayal of women in the programming and commercial content broadcast on Canadian radio and television. The task force recommended that the CRTC monitor and assess the initiatives taken by the broadcasting and advertising industries during a 2-year period. The report contains no conclusions as to the effectiveness of self-regulation, but is rather a progress report on the self-regulatory process from the perspective of all participants. It also contains a summary of a comprehensive content analysis study commissioned by the CRTC and conducted by Erin Research.